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Joel
Joel is a contestant on Visionary Survivor: Italy. Italy Summary As controversial of a winner as Joel is, his win brought a lot of perspective as to what it means to be a good winner, as well as what kinds of strategies should and can be awarded. The best way to describe Joel's game would be with the word safe, especially in the pre-merge portion of the game. From day one Joel had a final two agreement with fellow Valentino Joel. At first the two were on pretty even ground when it came to gameplay and although it stayed that way for a while, eventually things started to shake for both of their games. As Jack became more and more of a threat, it seemed as though the more spotlight Jack was forced into, the less attention Joel got. At the final eight, Jack and Joel were left as the final two original Valentino members left as a result of the many evacuations. At this point Jack took control, knowing that something had to be done in order to solidify Jack and Joel's positions in the game. When Jack executed his double tribal council plan, in some ways he saved Joel by taking the heat off of their duo. Even though Joel still received a vote and was almost eliminated, he was saved by Sasha's stray vote that forced Brandon into a tie with him. This tie resulted in Brandon's elimination by wheel. While Jack became a public enemy as a result of the double tribal, Joel was actually in a pretty solid position due to not controlling the vote but still being part of it. At the final six Joel began contemplating making a move against Jack, knowing that he wouldn't be able to beat him in the final tribal council. However, because of Jack's advantages, Joel couldn't make a move yet. This continued into the final four in which Joel finally decided to make a move. Shielding is a strategy that was only recently invented within the past few years in Survivor and one that hasn't been practiced much, especially not to the degree that Joel executed it in. Joel had been hiding in Jack's shadow the entire game as a part of his strategy, but what made it so ironic was that Jack claimed a multitude of times that his strategy was laying low and hiding in the shadows while other juggernauts battled it out in front of him. Little did he know that the biggest shadow was his own, and Joel had taken full advantage of it. At the final four, with Joel's senses fully intact, he was ready to make a move. All that stood in his way was one immunity challenge. Jack, the strategical mastermind that he was, predicted that Joel was about to make a move against him. With no advantages left in his pocket, he knew he had to win immunity or he would be next to go. Although neither openly stated their intentions, the smart move for Joel was obvious, and it even more obvious that Joel would be making it if given the chance. If that wasn't enough, the fact that Sasha and Ethan were already set on voting together coupled with the fact that Jack didn't see Ethan or Sasha as threats added another layer of tension that also made the challenge a do or die situation for Joel. Essentially, whoever won would be taking the other one out. Ultimately, Joel won immunity, sending Jack home four days short of the final tribal council. After thirty-five days of using Jack as a shield, Joel was left unprotected with one immunity challenge standing between him and the final tribal council. In anticlimactic fashion, Joel dominated the final immunity challenge, securing his spot in the final tribal council. However, winning the challenge was the easy part, deciding who he would take with him to the end was the hard part. On one hand, he could take Ethan, someone who wasn't even paying attention to the game until the final six, someone who was seen as the biggest floater of the season. On paper it seemed like an easy win to take Ethan,but at the same time Joel wasn't sure of whether or not he'd be rewarded for taking the easy way out. On the other hand, he could take Sasha. Someone who played an incredible game, one of the best of the season, but wasn't well liked by the jury. However, for whatever reason Joel saw Sasha as someone who was well liked by the jury, likely because the jury consisted of all Versace members other than Jack. Ironically, Joel decided to take Sasha, a decision that was viewed as an incredibly dumb move. But for Joel, he wanted to win against someone that played a game equal to or better than his own in order to get justification for his own gameplay. Now came the end of the road, the final tribal council. The consensus of the spectators was that Sasha would win easily, but it was quite the contrary as the final part of Joel's strategy came into play without him even realizing that it would happen. Joel's shield ultimately played a big part in helping Joel both in and out of the game. Due to bleeding Valentino the same way Rob Mariano bleeds Boston, Joel wanted to ensure that a Valentino member would win, even if it wasn't going to be him. Because of this, Joel spent much of his time at Ponderosa hyping up Joel's game and trying to get other jury members to vote for him in the final tribal council. As an added bonus, many jurors already disliked Sasha due to her "attitude". This lead to rather poor jury questioning for Sasha, and standard jury questioning for Joel. Although many spectators just saw it as them being bitter, the jury awarded Joel the win in a near unanimous 6-1 vote, making him the second Sole Visionary. Voting History Category:Season Two Contestant Category:1st Category:Valentino Category:New Versace Category:Wistful